It has been a month. I have been off my blog. Off Instagram. Off Twitter. Off Facebook. Off our podcast. For a variety of reasons, I decided that the social web wasn’t good for me. I was cranky, jaded, and in need of a break. So I took it with no real plan for how long it would last.

But I think I’m now ready to come back.

At least to some of it.

I have missed blogging. I have missed sharing my thoughts on the news of the day, the theological thoughts that run through my head, or the interesting articles I run across on the web. For a little while during my hiatus, I kept a list of things I would have blogged, tweeted, or Facebooked about had I been on the social web. As I look back on the past month, here are some things that would have been blog fodder for me:

The Irony of the Regular Baptist Press Catalog that Showed Up Addressed to Vintage Fellowship

Starting Our New Experimental Collective – Game On

The Ten Commandments Series We Are Doing at Vintage

The Heroic and Hilarious Charles Ramsey

Here’s the commitment that I am making to myself as I return to the blog. I am coming back with greater honesty. Part of the jadedness I felt a month ago was directly connected to how I was stuffing some of my feelings about things. One Tuesday a couple of weeks ago, Vanessa and I had a big talk in which I shared with her some of my deepest, darkest thoughts and feelings. It was liberating. Not easy … but liberating. I’m not very good at doing that naturally, but I also know how important it is for real connection to take place. So, I think I am going to push myself to be even more authentic and vulnerable here on my blog. Buckle your seat belts.

I have missed Instagram too. A while back I started using the Mailbox app for my iPhone. It encourages you to reach inbox zero by dealing with your email immediately. Each day, there is a little reward for achieving inbox zero – an Instagram pic of the day. I love the Instagram pic of the day. Often it makes me feel wistful for the peace and quiet of creation. Because I’ve enjoyed the Instagram pic of the day so much, I’ve decided that in my return to the social web, Instagram is going to be a bigger part of my involvement. Want to follow me? I’m rryerse. What’s your Instagram username so that I can follow you?

I have kinda missed Twitter. I like Twitter a lot. I like that users are limited to 140 characters. It’s harder – not impossible, but certainly harder – to go off on some nutty and annoying rant when you’ve got only 140 characters. Currently, I am looking for a Twitter client to use that can help me stay better organized on Twitter and to help manage the noise. When I find it, I’ll be back. Any suggestions?

I haven’t really missed Facebook. And I’m not sure I’m coming back. Yet. Or at all. I just don’t know. Facebook has great value in staying connected with my friends. My current experimental collective, for instance, has a Facebook group. I wish I were a part of it. But I don’t want to return to the stressful cacophony of religious and political posturing that pretty much drove me from Facebook. If I come back, it will be in a limited way. And if I come back, I may have to dramatically reduce my friend list. Let’s just be honest. I don’t really have 600 friends. Why should Facebook say otherwise. Does anyone have any suggestions, encouragements, or ideas when it comes to Facebook engagement?

I also don’t know what I think about the future of the Fundamorphosis podcast. Vanessa and I really enjoyed doing it when we were doing it. But the process of trying to find and secure guests was a bit disheartening. It also feels completely self-indulgent to make it a guest-free podcast. The podcast is a good thing that we need to decide if we are willing to devote the necessary resources to make it happen. Those discussion will be on-going with Vanessa and me. Obviously, I’ll let you know if and when it returns.

I’m so glad you’re back! My brain has been fried as of late, but I will be following up with you about my interview questions. And I’m @christimadrid on instagram 🙂

Ann McPherson

I am SO happy you are back, but honestly I didn’t miss you as I just discovered you! ;o) I discovered you while you were away… and I was SO eager to have you return so that I could read your recent posts!

One thing I found really interesting is my BFF (yes, I am 40+ yo with a BFF) just disengaged from Facebook herself because she felt WORSE after her FB indulgence not better. I liked how you were so open and honest about your struggle with social media in general and specifically FB. I love FB (as of today) but have found myself fighting the “Have Not’s”.

Mostly though, I have found myself in “trouble” at times with FB due to my (strong?) unfundamentalist shares. The comments I have endured from friends have been somewhat shocking and eyeopening. Yet.. I still find FB very rewarding and am still optimistic and hopeful that sharing may make difference in someone else’s day or life… I am pretty optimistic that in time, just like with the abolition of slavery and with women’s liberation, more people will realize that holding onto our “old” ways of thinking and behaving just isn’t consistent with the vision of love God has for us all.

Basically, I am just grateful. Grateful that you have listened to his voice and have shared your heart, your gift and your journey with others of us who have also found the traditional christian path not quite fitting our faith any more. We are not alone, and that is encouraging, inspiring and pretty awesome! ;o) Thank you for your book, your ministry, and for reaching out your hand to others like me who yearn for spiritual companionship on our journey with Christ.

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The views expressed on this blog are solely the views of Robb Ryerse. They do not represent the views, positions, or opinions of his church, employers, friends, or cohorts.